1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to a vacuum canister for a central vacuum system. More particularly, the invention relates to a vacuum canister that includes an auxiliary vacuum intake assembly that is mounted in the clean air chamber of the vacuum canister. Specifically, the invention relates to a vacuum canister that has an automatic electronic auxiliary vacuum intake assembly mounted in the clean air chamber of the vacuum canister.
2. Background Information
Central vacuum cleaner systems are common in newer homes and other buildings. These systems provide a convenient and easy way for periodically vacuuming the floors or rugs in the various rooms of a building and they eliminate the need for moving cumbersome hand-held units from room-to room.
Central vacuum systems typically include a vacuum canister, a light, portable hose, a range of vacuum cleaner attachments, a network of conduits installed in the walls and floors of the building and a number of wall-mounted receptacles. The vacuum canister is usually positioned in an out-of-the-way location in the building, such as the basement, utility room or garage.
Vacuum canisters include an electric vacuum pump assembly that is used to create the suction to draw dust-laden air through the portable vacuum hose and the rest of the central vacuum system. Canisters also include a motor for driving the pump, a filter for collecting dust entrained in the airstream, a device for collecting the entrained dust and a mechanism for circulating cleaned air back into the building.
The portable hose used with these types of systems is typically a flexible hose that includes an elongated rigid tube at one end and an end fitting at the other end. Various cleaning attachments are connectable to the elongated rigid tube and the end fitting is connectable to the conduit system through the wall receptacles.
The wall receptacles include an intake valve covered by an airtight flap or pivotable valve plate to prevent air from being unintentionally drawn into the conduit system. This maintains the vacuum state within the central vacuum system. Air enters the system only through the wall receptacle to which the portable hose is attached. The vacuum pump assembly motor is automatically turned when the portable hose is attached to the wall receptacle. This is accomplished through the provision of an electrical connection between the wall receptacle and the motor in the vacuum canister. A shorted two-prong connector is mounted to the end fitting of the portable vacuum hose that connects to the receptacle. A mating connector is built into the receptacle. The electric motor is automatically turned on when the connectors are mated during insertion of the end fitting into the receptacle. The motor is automatically turned off when the end fitting is removed from the receptacle.
It is reasonably expensive to provide the conduits and automatically activated wall receptacles for central vacuum systems. It has therefore been fairly common practice to not provide an automatically activated wall receptacle for the room in which the vacuum canister is located. As an alternative, vacuum canister manufacturers have provided an auxiliary vacuum intake assembly located on the canister itself. The auxiliary vacuum intake assembly is positioned on the canister so that it feeds directly into the area of the canister that filters the vacuumed air. The user simply attaches the portable hose to the auxiliary vacuum intake assembly. These auxiliary vacuum intake assemblies may not include automatic starting of the vacuum pump when the hose is inserted into the vacuum opening of the receptacle. The user therefor has to manually activate the main on/off switch for the vacuum canister in order to start the motor and vacuum pump. Some central vacuum canisters, however, are provided with automatic starting and stopping of the vacuum pump. In these instances, the auxiliary vacuum intake assembly and the motor have to be wired together. It has been common practice to feed the wires from the auxiliary vacuum intake assembly, through the dust catchment area to the motor. The problem with this is that the dust and debris traveling through the dust catchment area tend to damage the wiring. In order to overcome this problem, some have installed the wiring from the assembly to the motor by positioning the wires on the outside surface of the vacuum canister. External wiring is, however, both unsightly and potentially dangerous and the wiring may easily become dislodged.
There is therefore a need in the art for providing a mechanism for providing a convenient, cost effective, vacuum canister with an electronic auxiliary vacuum intake assembly therein.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the drawings.